1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for adjusting a gas sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Adjusting a gas sensor is understood to mean in particular obtaining information concerning which measured value or which current the sensor actually delivers for a predefined measuring gas, or how this measured value or current correlates with an actual concentration of the gas component to be detected in a measuring gas.
A method for adjusting an amperometric gas sensor is already known from published German patent application document DE 10 2008 007 238 A1, the gas sensor having a diffusion barrier, a hollow chamber downstream from the diffusion barrier, and a pump cell. This method provides that the gas component to be determined, for example from a measuring gas, is pumped into the hollow chamber with the aid of the pump cell, the gas component to be determined is subsequently pumped out of the hollow chamber with the aid of the pump cell, and an adjustment value for the gas sensor is deduced from the resulting pump current and/or the variation of the pump current over time.
One disadvantage of this method is that adjustment values obtainable with the method are a function not only of the measured value or current which is measurable for a predefined measuring gas using this sensor, but also of further influencing variables, for example the volume of the measuring chamber and the volume of the diffusion barrier, of which the measured value or current which is measurable for a predefined measuring gas is not a direct function. As a result, only an erroneous adjustment of the amperometric gas sensor is possible using the method known from the related art.